Stories

It’s with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our long time Rotarian and friend, Geoffrey Reinwald. Whether you remember him as the whistleblower at Men Who Cook, the guy manning the bratwurst grill at Blues and BBQ, or the king of the parking lot at Touch A Truck and the Putnam County 4-H Fair, he always had a smile and a ‘Geoffrey’ joke. He was always ready to help, whether it was ‘painting’ rooms (somehow painting everything except what needed to be painted) and pulling weeds (aka poison ivy). He was a Rotarian at heart and was a living example of ‘Service Above Self’.

Geoffrey was a special and unique personality that had a lot to do with shaping the personality of what our club and our local community has become. From sponsoring many, many members over the years to making our early morning meetings fun, he will truly be missed by his Rotary family and all that knew him.

Then just a few short weeks after that comes our 3rd Annual Touch a Truck for Heroes! Come and explore your favorite trucks, meet the people who drive them and help us support local veteran groups. Join us on October 7th from 10 am - 2 pm at Thunder Ridge Ski Area.

At this past Tuesday's meeting we heard from Paula Miratello and her organization, My Brother Vinny. She started the organization as a way to honor her brother after his passing by assisting those with mental health issues find housing and support programs. Over the last few years the main focus of her work has turned to working with the local VA's and shelters to assist homeless veterans get into new homes.

Paula told us how most veterans qualify for housing assistance through the VA, but there is no program to assist them with furnishing their new apartments. My Brother Vinny provides them with everything from furniture, to housewares and even art work for the walls, so the empty apartment becomes a home. She and her volunteers, mainly veterans who she has helped that want to get involved, have helped over 435 veterans and their families in 9 counties in the Hudson Valley/Metro NY area.

This morning was the meeting most of our members look forward too all year. We packed 35 boxes full with everything a family would need for a Thanksgiving dinner. We include gift cards so they can buy a turkey, boxes of stuffing, rolls, canned vegetables, cranberry sauce, potatoes, pies, cookies, and so much more.

We were able to pack 9 boxes for families in need at Matthew Patterson Elementary school and 26 to Putnam Community Action Program.

ALso, this past weekend, we participated in Putnam CAP's THanksgiving Weekend county wide food drive. Members from our club and our Interact club volunteered at Putnam Lake Market in Patterson and Kobackers in Brewster. We were pleased to find out when we dropped off the boxes this morning to Putnam CAP, that the food drive had gone so well, they were able to add fresh carrots and celery to our boxes as well!

So thank you for supporting us, whether it's coming to a fundraiser or donating at the food drive this weekend. We are proud to work with our community to help those in need.

The Patterson Rotary Club celebrated the chartering of their new Patterson Interact Club. Interact is a branch of Rotary that teens from the ages of 12-18 can join. They do service projects in their community and around the world and learn how to live our motto, Service Above Self. We are so proud of these kids. We currently have students from 4 different schools, Brewster, Carmel, Pawling and The Wooster School in Danbury, CT. In just a few sort weeks, these kids and learned about each other and how to be a team. We asked them to bring one service project idea to a meeting and these amazing kids came up with over 20!

We have also be lucky enough to have a couple of kids who aren't quite old enough to join Interact, but want to do good, so we are also in the process of starting an EarlyAct club.

If you are local to the Patterson area and are a Comcast subscriber, you can check us out on Channel 8. About Rotary is a show that we produce once a month and it tells about what Rotary is doing in our area and around the world.

If you don't use Comcast, or are unable to catch us on cable, you can check out our YouTube Channel (click the red button on the left side of our home page).

Here is last month's episode, with the founding members of STEP, or Schools to End Poverty.

Ed and Howard are coming to our March 15th meeting to talk to us about the good they are doing around the world. If you would like to learn more, check out their website at http://schoolstoendpoverty.org/home/index or stop in for breakfast with us when they are visiting.

This morning we celebrated the good we do in the world with representatives from many of the local non-for-profits that we work with. After treating them to a delicious breakfast, President Bill Flash turned it over to President Elect Anthony Molé who presented the certificate and checks. In total, we gave out over $11,000!

We would like to once again thank these organizations for all that they do:

Click on the following link to learn how Rotarians around the world work together to make a better world:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmQhnFv-u3U&list=PLGukUvNU_i3K58ZZBkQnl9T9aG4qHonel&feature=share

During the 2013-2014 Rotary year which runs from July 1 through June 30, President John Kelly was very pleased with the good the Rotary Club of Patterson did in the local and international community.

Well over $30,000 of funding as well as many hours of volunteer services were given back to the community throughout the year. Over 40 organizations and numerous local individuals have benefitted from the hard work and fundraisers the members have taken part in throughout the year.

For a list of some of the organizations who the Rotary Club has assisted this year, click on the link below to see more.

On Friday, 5/30/14 Rotarians from around the world broke two world records. While at the Rotary International Convention held this year in Sydney, Australia, Rotarians broke two world records while on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

One record previously held by Oprah Winfrey audience members was broken when 340 Rotarians climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge at one time. The Rotarians simultaneously broke another record by flying the most country flags from the bridge.

Click on the following link to see the Rotarians in action breaking the records: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlbF-lAJIvo

Click on 'More' below to see pictures from our recent
Installation Barbecue.What a beautiful day. Great food, friends and fun.
And a Special Thank you to:
the eight Carmel Veterans who joined us for the festivities
& United Cerebral Palsy of Brewster for hosting the event.